Nobility
by emm297
Summary: After reflecting on his life with and without Hisana, Kuchiki Byakuya now understands the true meaning of Nobility. ByakuyaXHisana. One-shot. Rated T to be safe.


Emm297: I decided to do a ByakuyaXHisana one-shot, since I absolutely adore this pairing :D It's so sweet, and makes Byakuya seem so compassionate and… AWESOME :D

So please enjoy this ByakuyaXHisana fic! Review please!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

People know him as Kuchiki Byakuya. Head of the Kuchiki Household. Owner of the Zanpakutou Senbonzakura. The 'stone cold' Captain of the Gotei 13. The one who is always serious. The one who hardly ever smiles.

Yet what people don't know, is that he's the one who hurts the most, deep inside.

Byakuya always wondered what life would be like if he had never met Hisana. Would his life be different? Would he always go about with his life, not knowing the true meaning of love? Would he still be the stoic-faced captain of the 13 Protection Squads?

But Byakuya knew the answer to all these questions. Truth is, his life wouldn't be different. For if he didn't meet Hisana when he did, he believed he would have met her sooner or later. It was fate that brought them together, and Byakuya knew that fate had the weirdest ways of working.

Just like how fate took her away from him that day, just when the first blossom bloomed.

5 years together wasn't a lot, but to him, those 5 years were the best 5 years he had experienced thus far. Even though Hisana was always out in Inuzuri, looking for her sister, and he himself was busy with the Gotei 13, they still loved each other dearly. When Hisana was out, Byakuya would sometimes worry about his wife's safety. Would a hollow get to her? Would she catch a disease there? The list was endless. Yet Byakuya never worried excessively; he knew she would always return home.

Home. Their home.

When they got married, all the Kuchiki elders were against it. They kept asking him to reconsider, to think again, but Byakuya was certain that the raven-haired girl was the one he wanted to spend his life with. Not some other girl from some other noble house. To him, Hisana was noble. She was noble enough to look for the sister she abandoned. She was noble enough to She was noble enough to take every insult the elders threw at her without ever complaining once.

And to him, that was far more noble than he could ever be. It was something he admired about her.

That was why, when she was breathing her last breaths, he paid heavy attention to her final wishes. And that was why, when she passed on, he told himself that he would find her sister. As a promise to himself, as well as Hisana.

When he finally accepted that she was gone forever, Byakuya used 1 week of his time in order to get his emotions straight. Every corner of the Kuchiki household reminded him of her. When he stepped out into the gardens, the trees reminded him of her as well.

In fact, because everything reminded him so much of her, Byakuya sat by himself in his room each night just staring at the thin air, reminiscing about the times he spent with Hisana. He wanted as many memories of her to keep; to hold, so that when the time came for him to pass on, he would have these wonderful memories to take with him.

Although he tried to be strong, Byakuya knew he was failing. But he couldn't cry out loud; at least not in front of everyone. Byakuya was brought up in the manner that crying was for weak people who weren't strong enough to overcome emotions. However, if there was one thing Hisana had taught him, it was that emotions aren't for the weak. They're for the brave. If you are able to face up to your feelings and admit that they're there, you already have strength.

And it was this strength that kept Byakuya going.

Later, he found her sister in the Shinigami Academy. Her name was Rukia, and she was a splitting image of his wife. Exactly the same, except for her fringe. Hisana's was a little more rough compared to Rukia's. When he found her, he was extremely overjoyed, but he didn't show it.

So, Byakuya broke the rules the second time.

He told Rukia that the only reason why he adopted her was because she resembled Hisana. That was also one of his wife's wishes. For him to adopt her without telling her that he was in fact, her brother-in-law. That was another form of nobility in Hisana.

Thus, Byakuya resumed his duties, and he became the 'ice' of Seireitei once more. Rukia was adopted into the family, even though the elders did not allow him to do so. Marrying a commoner was enough already; but to bring a outside commoner into the Kuchiki household and pass her off as family? That was something the elders did not like.

Therefore, Byakuya made a promise. He would never break the rules again. He would remain loyal and true to the name of the Kuchiki house, and he would not disobey the elders again. If he ever needed advice, he knew where to get it from.

When he was alone in his room, Byakuya would take a picture out of his drawer. It was his favourite portrait of Hisana and himself, standing under the same Plum Blossom tree as the one he saw when she moved on. Back then, the blossom's were in full bloom. He felt calm just looking at the picture. Whenever he felt like letting all his emotions out, he would take the picture out, and talk to the air, as though Hisana was right there, watching over him.

He would tell her about Rukia's improvements, his regular day-to-day activities as a Captain, and occasionally when the elders were a bit unreasonable he would tell Hisana. It was like she never left. And when he said all these things, it actually felt like someone was looking at him, listening to him speak.

When the time came to tell Rukia about her sister, Byakuya felt like a whole load had been taken off his shoulder. Rukia seemed surprised. But not as surprised as he was at how it was all easily the words were just flowing out of him. He told her about how Hisana would spend every day looking for her, how she would always be thinking about her, and her last wishes before she left.

Later that day, when he was finally well enough to walk, Byakuya visited Hisana's grave. It was elegant and beautiful; Byakuya made sure of that. It was entirely made up of marble, and the words "Kuchiki Hisana" could be seen inscribed on it. At the bottom right hand corner were the words "With Nobility and Grace", which Byakuya thought described his wife perfectly.

He had knelt down and laid a couple of roses on the gravestone, saying an almost inaudible 'report' to Hisana about the latest information regarding Rukia. After that, there was an awkward silence as he tried to think of something else to say. A small smile tugged at his lips as he recalled a similar scene that had happened a long time ago.

_"Hisana, let's go." Byakuya said, getting up from his kneeling position. They were visiting his parents' gravestones, and Byakuya felt that he had nothing more to tell them._

_"Byakuya-sama, don't you have any other things to say ?" Hisana asked._

_"No, what other things should I say?" _

_"Perhaps you could say something along the lines of ' I'm doing fine' or ' I'm well, so you don't have to worry about me'". _

_Byakuya thought for a moment before turning back to his parents' headstone. Slowly, he knelt down once more. _

_"Well…" Byakuya looked up at his wife. She gave him an encouraging smile, as if to say 'Go on'. Byakuya frowned slightly before turning back to the marble stone. "Well, I'm doing fine as well, and the 6__th__ division is doing quite finely too, so…" He looked back at Hisana. _

_"You don't have to worry." She said._

_"You don't have to worry." He repeated after her. He was never good with words like these which conveyed feelings. _

_Hisana smiled. _

_And he returned it, and they finally left the garden. _

Byakuya smiled at the memory. He looked at Hisana's gravestone once more.

"Hisana, I'm doing fine, so you don't have to worry about me." Byakuya said. "Or Rukia, for that matter. Her Ryoka friends will take care of her too." He added.

"So, no need to worry." Byakuya finished. "I hope you're doing well, take care of yourself."

After that, he left, and he continued dealing with the things a captain was supposed to deal with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hisana was sorely missed, not by the elders, not much by the servants in the household either, but by the one heart that mattered the most.

Kuchiki Byakuya always thought nobility meant glory and following orders, keeping calm and pride, but after he met Hisana, all this changed.

And Kuchiki Byakuya finally realized what true nobility was.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emm297: And here we come to the end of this one-shot! Hope you guys enjoyed this, I had fun writing it too! Byakuya and Hisana sound like a wonderful couple/pairing to me; it really shows that Byakuya has compassion, and he isn't the cold unfeeling person we think him to be :)

Well, hope you guys like the pairing as much as I do!

See you! Peace :) emm297

P.S: Please visit my other stories, the 'Once Upon A' series! Once Upon a Sakura Flower and Once Upon a Moonlit Twilight, with the latter being the sequel to the former. They're HitsugayaOC fics, cause that's my fav pairing of all time :) Please go read it okay :D


End file.
